21 November 2012
During a routine inspection
We found people's views and experiences were taken into account in the way the service was provided and delivered in relation to their care. One person told us 'there are plenty of choices and I am never told what to do.' We heard a good level of communication between staff and people using the service.
We found people experienced care, treatment and support that met their needs and protected their rights. One person told us that it was 'the happiest place I have been in.' Whilst we saw detailed assessments of people's support needs, we found that mental capacity assessments had been carried out, but not for specific decisions.
We found people who use the service were protected from the risk of abuse as staff members had a good understanding of safeguarding issues and had received recent training in the safeguarding of vulnerable adults.
The provider had effective recruitment processes in place. The provider had an effective system in place to identify, assess and manage risks to the health, safety and welfare of people using the service and others. However, we found that staff members could not access the relevant policies and needed to approach the manager or contact the on-call manager for advice about a policy. This meant that important information contained within the providers' policies was not easily available for staff when required.